Hydration tests could get tougher

Wrestlers will step on the scales this weekend before the Section 9 championships.

Sal Interdonato

Wrestlers will step on the scales this weekend before the Section 9 championships.

Some will make weight on their first try. Others might have to run off a pound or two.

Next season, passing the first stage of certification for a desired weight — the hydration test — could get tougher.

Currently, wrestlers across New York can provide a doctor's note that states he or she cannot pass the hydration test because of medication they are taking. It has happened in Section 9.

The process after the section chairman receives the note is sketchy.

"The chairman forwards it to Todd Nelson, head of certifications or Marty Sherman, who is the state chairman," Section 9 chairman Jeff Cuilty said, referring to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. "They have to see the note and say it's OK. It's something so rare we don't have a real set procedure. Most chairmen would most likely send a copy of it up there so they are not making the decision and somebody higher up is."

Wrestlers cannot proceed to weigh-ins, the second of the three-step certification process conducted before each season, without passing the hydration test. Those who fail the test can return 24 hours later for another try.

"It has been medically proven that one way students try to get to a lower weight class is to become dehydrated, and we strongly believe that is not the healthy way to do it," Nelson said.

Cuilty said the state wrestling committee is looking into tightening up the doctor's note option next season.

"A kid, in theory, could produce a note that the doctor wrote at 9 o'clock in the morning and if they were to go to certifications at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, well, yeah, they were hydrated at 9 o'clock but then they could have sat in a sweat box all day," Cuilty said.

Having the doctor present at the certifications is one of the ideas being considered, Cuilty said.

Nelson said he didn't know the number of wrestlers who passed through the hydration test by a doctor's note this season.

"I can gather information about how many people passed and failed the hydration test, but ultimately they all have to pass it one way or another in order to get certify," Nelson said. "I don't have any specific dates on who had to see a physician and who did not."

Nelson added, "I wouldn't say it's overly common."

Asked why local coaches could be bothered by the issue, Cuilty said, "Anybody in the state that doesn't have all of the details on it think that someone might be trying to cheat the system. They don't have the doctor's note. They don't know where the kid went. This is why, as a committee, we are looking into it because we don't want other coaches around the state thinking that there's something fishy going on."

Administrators also don't want the provision being abused. A time frame could be instituted between the doctor's visit and the hydration test.

"We want to make sure there's some type of medically accepted or proven practice that a physician is using in order to determine the hydration and that it happens in concurrence with the test itself," Nelson said. "We just want to make sure that everybody is on the same playing field. We strongly believe that a student needs to be hydrated in order to go through the weight certification process."

Minisink Valley coach Kevin Gallagher said the hydration test can be stressful on wrestlers.

"There's a lot more to it," Gallagher said. "Most of us could go in there and fail a hydration test. There has to be some safeguards for the kids."

Drinking a gallon of water before the test isn't the answer.

"That's 5 pounds," Gallagher said.

Gallagher wasn't aware of the doctor's note option. He chooses to educate his team on proper hydration.

"We talk a lot to our wrestlers about hydration and eating right," Gallagher said. "It is a process and you have to do it gradually."

sinterdonato@th-record.com

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